Science proves that eating Lycopene rich foods is a viable treatment for various cancers

The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2017, 1,688,780 new cancer cases and 600,920 cancer deaths are projected to occur in the US. While mainstream treatments like chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy are advocated as cancer treatments, cancer drugs are reported to kill patients faster than cancer itself. Therefore, it is important to learn other non- invasive ways to prevent and treat cancer, so that choosing a treatment can be done out of knowledge, instead of advice. Recently, studies have proven that eating lycopene rich foods is a viable treatment for various cancers. Below is how scientists got to that conclusion.

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I’ve been diagnosed with cancer, what should I do?

There is no right answer for that question, because being diagnosed with cancer is not an easy predicament, and finding out the best treatment to tackle cancer is usually left for oncologists to decide. While there have been reports that alternative therapies may be linked with a lower cancer survival rate. Chemotherapy drugs have been questioned, with a study from England, concluding that cancer drugs are killing up to 50 per cent of patients in some hospitals. So, it is important to find out what other cancer treatments are available. The fact is that, this decision should not be taken lightly and must be well informed.

Here is what scientists found about lycopene rich foods being a viable treatment for various cancers

The reason why eating Lycopene rich foods can be a viable treatment for various cancers, is because lycopene is a potent antioxidant of carotenoid family found in fruits and vegetables. This antioxidant has been associated with a number of health benefits particularly in regard to prostate, lung, heart and skin health. The inverse association between lycopene dietary intake and cancer is a well known scientific fact, with reports of a literature review, that out of 72 studies, 57 reported inverse associations between tomato intake or blood lycopene level and the risk of cancer. Some of these cancers are:

Prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in american men, and is one of the most studied, though preventable measures for its malignancy are not well established. However, the carotenoid lycopene, which is derived largely from tomato-based products has been shown effective against cancer. For example: scientists observed that just two to four servings of tomato sauce per week was associated with about a 35% risk reduction of total prostate cancer and a 50% reduction of advanced (extraprostatic) prostate cancer.

A Cohort study of diet, lifestyle, and prostate cancer in Adventist 14.000 men was conducted. During the 6-year follow-up period, 180 histologically confirmed prostatic cancers were detected among some 78,000 man-years of follow-up. It was observed that increasing consumption of beans, lentils and peas, tomatoes, raisin, dates, and other dried fruit were all associated with significantly decreased prostate cancer risk.

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Skin cancer

Recently it has been reported that at The Ohio State University, a research team, found that mice that were fed a diet of 10% tomato powder daily for 35 weeks had a 50% lower risk of developing skin cancer tumors when exposed to ultraviolet light. The reason why tomatoes will help you keep skin cancer away, is because this fruit is packed with dietary carotenoids, such as Lycopene, which are powerful antioxidants with anticancer properties.

Lung cancer

Increasing evidence suggests that tomato lycopene may be preventive against the formation and the development of lung cancer. Experimental studies demonstrated that lycopene may inhibit the growth of several cultured lung cancer cells and prevent lung tumorigenesis in animal models. In one of such studies scientists investigated the chemopreventive potential of lycopene, and mice were administered lycopene during the post-initiation stage in a multiorgan carcinogenesis model. It was observed that dietary lycopene dissolved in drinking water at a 50 ppm dose significantly decreased diethylnitrosamine (DEH)-, methylnitrosourea (MNU)- and dimethylhydrazine (DMD)-induced lung adenomas along with carcinomas in male mice.

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